South African Musicians... South African Kit?

bottledtone

Our country is really growing in the music industry, and getting well deserved radio play, but will there ever be a time when the back line equipment and guitar will become South African as well.
Yes, American's use british Marshall, and Brits use Fender, but will the local kit builders have the time to shine, or are the industry giants just to big and strong.

Bob-Dubery

bottledtone wrote: Our country is really growing in the music industry, and getting well deserved radio play, but will there ever be a time when the back line equipment and guitar will become South African as well.
Yes, American's use british Marshall, and Brits use Fender, but will the local kit builders have the time to shine, or are the industry giants just to big and strong.

GFSAer Karel Mars builds guitar amps.

There are at least two local guitar builders selling their wares in high-end stores in the USA.

If you catch a show on the current Tony Cox and Steve Newman tour you will see both those fine players playing South African made guitars.

Keira-WitherKay

bottledtone wrote: Our country is really growing in the music industry, and getting well deserved radio play, but will there ever be a time when the back line equipment and guitar will become South African as well.
Yes, American's use british Marshall, and Brits use Fender, but will the local kit builders have the time to shine, or are the industry giants just to big and strong.

well it's a matter of cost ........... as a performing musician , i can't afford the price that some of the local luthiers charge for their guitars.......... and find it more economical to buy good 2nd hand gear at a fraction of retail price.........and sure i'd love to be playing a marc maingard classical ,
so yeah it's all economics and a lack of a 2nd hand market for local gear .......

Tonedef

Keira WitherKay wrote: so yeah it's all economics and a lack of a 2nd hand market for local gear .......

This.

There's no doubt that South Africa has the skills and infrastructure to produce world-class products and technology. However, our economy of scale can never hope to compete with the established players. Even your high-end Gibson and whatnot has a couple of CNC machines and plenty of automation as part of its DNA, allowing them to crank them out much more economically. There's no way for a small private outfit to compete with this, so achieving the same level of quality is very labour intensive, which drive the cost up to prohibitive levels.

Bob-Dubery

Tonedef wrote: There's no doubt that South Africa has the skills and infrastructure to produce world-class products and technology. However, our economy of scale can never hope to compete with the established players. Even your high-end Gibson and whatnot has a couple of CNC machines and plenty of automation as part of its DNA, allowing them to crank them out much more economically. There's no way for a small private outfit to compete with this, so achieving the same level of quality is very labour intensive, which drive the cost up to prohibitive levels.

That's not necessarily an issue with South African business actually. It's the dilemma for any small private outfit.

Lowden, Fylde, Danny Ferrington etc would have the same problems competing with major manufacturers - so they don't.

Where American companies do have an advantage is the size of their domestic market. If you crack 0.25% of the total market there then that's a lot of customers. So boutique amp and pedal manufacturers can do well there because although there percentage of the market is no bigger than than it would be anywhere else the market itself is so much bigger.

Another benefit of the size of the American market is that "cult" or "fringe" artists can make a good living there because there are so many small to medium venues in every city, and a well established circuit that rests on those venues and connects these artists with the small percentage (but still a good number) of people that want to see them perform. This means that those guys can make a living working the US circuit and that means they don't give up and open a restaurant or become bank managers, so there is a knock-on benefit for all of us.

bottledtone

Are we comparing apples with apples? Yes, the local stuff can be expensive, but you can't compare a local "boutique amp" to a factory produced amp from another country.
The question is more "are we headed in the direction of more local stuff being used." Boutique vs boutique, and maybe a chance for larger scale cheaper products. Maybe a mindset of "there is more than marshall"
Sorry that I'm talking more in the amp side, but that's what I build and understand. Guitars are included.

Keira-WitherKay

bottledtone wrote: Are we comparing apples with apples? Yes, the local stuff can be expensive, but you can't compare a local "boutique amp" to a factory produced amp from another country.
The question is more "are we headed in the direction of more local stuff being used." Boutique vs boutique, and maybe a chance for larger scale cheaper products. Maybe a mindset of "there is more than marshall"
Sorry that I'm talking more in the amp side, but that's what I build and understand. Guitars are included.

honestly now .. and i know i only been back in sa for last 3 yrs or just a hint longer , but as a pro muso .i have not seen one local amp being used by pro's i've accociated with or bumped into , i seen some of the acoustic guitarists with smoothtalkers and jimmy dludlu plays marc maingard electric archtop jazz guitars , but truly no amps...... but again it's ecconomics, most working muso's can't afford boutique gear till they famous, that pay cheques mght be getting better for pro's but they must support their families and pay for the toll roads ? so not a lot left for boutique gear .......and i know some of the muso's using local guitars were given them gratis or at cut rates....... so they not even buying it at retail .......and sure the maker gets the advertising so fair exchange in my books....... but i still maintain the fulltime pro muso's can't afford boutique gear , really unless they the top 2% that crack it big...... but how many pro muso's do you know that are wealthy enough to afford boutique gear thats the luxuary of the part time muso whose corporate job supports their boutique gear habit , and this fact has been reinforced by the music stores even admitting that the really top end gear mostly goes to non pro's

so make an amp that can rival the price of a good marshall or whatever and it's affordable , i see mervyn davis has started making an affordable line of smooth talkers ( i heard he's got a more mass produced model and was told and it was the price range that a pro would spend no problem )

so there';s a challenge ............to make an affordable tube amp and i'm sure if it has tone ( the all important factor) it will sell